Occultist

Occultist

Int

	Throw off the chains of fear and embrace that which was forbidden.

This page is about the Ascendancy class. For the Ascendant passive, see Occultist (Ascendant passive).

The Occultist is an Ascendancy class for Witches.

Overview

The Occultist is a Witch class that specializes in cold and chaos damage effects as well as curses, with a minor affinity for both Energy Shield and Power Charges. The class is capable of reliably generating said Power Charges without needing to trigger on-kill effects, using Forbidden Power. Unholy Authority and Profane Bloom are a great boon to builds that utilize curses in any form. Withering Presence and Frigid Wake amplify the power of chaos and cold damage respectively. Vile Bastion allows for investment into Energy Shield Regeneration as well as stun immunity while having Energy Shield.

Passive skills

Occultist skill tree

Minor skills

This class has the following minor passive skills:

Name	Stats
Energy Shield, Chaos Damage	6% increased maximum Energy Shield 10% increased Chaos Damage [1]
Energy Shield, Cold and Chaos Damage	6% increased maximum Energy Shield 10% increased Chaos Damage 10% increased Cold Damage [1]
Energy Shield, Cold Damage	6% increased maximum Energy Shield 10% increased Cold Damage [1]
Energy Shield, Curse Effect	6% increased maximum Energy Shield 5% increased Effect of your Curses [1] [2]
Energy Shield, Energy Shield Recharge Rate	6% increased maximum Energy Shield 15% increased Energy Shield Recharge Rate [1] [2]
Energy Shield, Power Charge Duration	6% increased maximum Energy Shield 15% increased Power Charge Duration [1]

Notable skills

The class has the following notable passive skills:

Skill	Modifiers	Prerequisite	Preceding Passive
Forbidden Power	+1 to Maximum Power Charges 6% increased Area of Effect per Power Charge 6% increased Damage per Power Charge Gain a Power Charge after Spending a total of 200 Mana		Energy Shield, Power Charge Duration
Profane Bloom	Cursed Enemies you or your Minions Kill have a 50% chance to Explode, dealing a quarter of their maximum Life as Chaos Damage		Energy Shield, Curse Effect
Unholy Authority	You can apply an additional Curse Your Hexes can affect Hexproof Enemies		Energy Shield, Curse Effect
Void Beacon	Nearby Enemies have -20% to Chaos Resistance Nearby Enemies have 100% reduced Life Regeneration rate Nearby Enemies have -20% to Cold Resistance		Energy Shield, Cold and Chaos Damage
Withering Presence	15% more Chaos Damage +60% to Chaos Resistance Every second, inflict Withered on nearby Enemies for 15 seconds Nearby Hindered Enemies deal 15% reduced Damage over Time	Void Beacon	Energy Shield, Chaos Damage
Frigid Wake	15% more Cold Damage Cannot be Chilled Cannot be Frozen Every 4 seconds, 50% chance to Freeze nearby Non-Frozen Enemies for 0.4 seconds Nearby Chilled Enemies deal 10% reduced Damage with Hits	Void Beacon	Energy Shield, Cold Damage
Vile Bastion	Regenerate 2% of Energy Shield per second for each Enemy you or your Minions have Killed Recently, up to 10% per second Cannot Be Stunned while you have Energy Shield Regenerate 40 Energy Shield per second		Energy Shield, Energy Shield Recharge Rate

Version history

Version	Changes
3.20.0	Malediction was renamed to Unholy Authority. It no longer provides 15% increased Effect of your Curses, or "Enemies you curse have Malediction." It now provides "Your Hexes can affect Hexproof Enemies." Profane Bloom's chance to explode curse enemies was increased from 40% to 50%. It no longer provides "Your Hexes can affect Hexproof Enemies."
3.13.0	Small passives that previously granted additional Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier now instead grant 10% increased Chaos Damage. Small passives that previously granted additional Cold Damage over Time Multiplier now instead grant 10% increased Cold Damage.
3.7.0	Wicked Ward has been removed from the Ascendancy tree. Vile Bastion no longer requires any Ascendancy notables. Each of the small passives on the Occultist Ascendancy tree now grant 6% increased energy shield (from 8%).
3.5.0	New Notables - Withering Presence and Frigid Wake. Added a small passive leading to Withering Presence which grants 8% increased maximum Energy Shield and +5% to Non-Ailment Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier. Added a small passive leading to Frigid Wake which grants 8% increased maximum Energy Shield and +5% to Cold Damage over Time Multiplier. The small passive leading to Void Beacon now also grants 10% increased Cold Damage.
3.2.0	Minor node Energy Shield, Critical Strike Chance replaced with Energy Shield, Power Charge Duration. Minor node Energy Shield, Curse Duration replaced with Energy Shield, Curse Effect.

See also

• Necromancer
• Elementalist